Nazi flags waved in Cyprus as anti-Germany protests continue

Europeans are taking aim at Germany after the latest raft of austerity across the continent, and the Cypriot bailout, causes social unrest

The Agence France Press news agency is reporting that Germany's image in Europe is taking a shellacking as protestors in Cyprus and other debt-mired states wave Nazi posters and flags, blaming the Germans for a "merciless austerity drive".

“The battle to save Cyprus inflicted deep wounds on the eurozone,” the influential German weekly Der Spiegel said on its website.

“The price of rescue is high: Germany is again the whipping boy,” it said, citing a pattern of recriminations seen in Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece and Cyprus as the debt turmoil has whipsawed through Europe.

In the case of stricken Cyprus, a 10-billion-euro lifeline came at the price of depositors in the two biggest banks - many of them Russian - paying huge levies on deposits over 100,000 euros ($130,000).

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Demonstrators have taken to the streets of the Cypriot capital Nicosia with signs showing Merkel with a Hitler moustache and hundreds of Twitter users to equate today’s Germans with the Nazis.

Respected Spanish daily El Pais went as far as to publish an editorial Sunday stating that Merkel “like Hitler, has declared war on the rest of the continent”. It later withdrew the column.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is vying for a third term in September elections, has maintained an above-the-fray stance, calling the sniping the price of power. Senior German officials note that the United States also garners hatred for its huge global footprint.

Note: Pictures used in this report are from Greece. So far, no images have been distributed to us from Cyprus